Christmas: activities and plans with children
Colorful lights, decorated shop windows, Magi ... The festivities of Christmas they are already here. It's time for family reunions, meals and dinners with our loved ones but ... what about the little ones in the house? For them, the Christmas It is a magical time that they live with special emotion. Making children enjoy them even more and actively participate will depend on our imagination.
The classes are over and the children are already at home ... all day. The Christmas parties They have their faces and their crosses for most parents. On the one hand, these are really special dates, on the other hand it is also a time in which to ensure that children do not get bored at home and participate, it becomes a challenge. Precisely for this reason, this year it is necessary that we elaborate an action plan to try that our children live the Christmas as an interesting, joyful, participative ... and educational festivities.
Christmas: plans to do at home
A good strategy when mobilizing children is to involve them in the Christmas decoration of the house. And what better option than to take advantage of these days before Christmas to Dusting the Birth
These are lthe most typical elements that should not be missing in the Bethlehem: the stable where the star of the Orient, the Virgin, the Child, Saint Joseph, and the ox and the mule settled according to tradition was condemned to sterility by eating straw from the barn.
In general, tradition dictates that the figure of the Child Jesus be the last one to be placed on Christmas Eve, as well as that the Magi come a little closer each day until they reach the portal on January 6.
In addition, this type of activities will provide us with many additional possibilities. For example, we can turn the house into a large craft workshop in which we can paint some complementary figures for the nativity scene, make garlands of paper, mount the river of birth with silver foil, draw dolls for the fir tree, paint snow on the windows, hanging holly on the doors of the house ...
We can also encourage our children that this year they are the ones who make the postcards that we will send to the family. Thanks to this simple activity, the children will paint and color beautiful congratulations while we help them to think of beautiful messages for their uncles and grandparents. Later we can go all together to the nearest post office to send our family and nice Christmas letters.
An ecological activity for children at Christmas
Another option, although not all families opt for this tradition, is to launch fully Children decorate the Christmas tree. To prevent it from ending up in the garbage can at the end of the holidays, we will buy one with root ball. In this way, when everything has happened we can take a weekend to go out together to the field and replant our tree explaining to our children the importance of this symbolic act. Our forests are the lungs of the planet and they must learn from small to respect them to the fullest.
Also in these dates it is necessary to get all in the kitchen to make delicious Christmas sweets. At these ages, children can help us to make cakes, place the trays of marzipan and nougat, prepare the roscón ... In this simple way, not only will they learn to make some delicious dishes under our supervision but they will feel more involved in family gatherings: they were the ones who prepared those wonderful trays of sweets!
Music and solidarity at Christmas
Prepare a Tambourine or a small drum is not difficult. We just have to follow a few simple instructions. There are numerous craft books especially indicated for the little ones that will allow us to develop their imagination and skill now that they have more free time.
Once we have organized the musical band, we can launch ourselves fully to sing Christmas carols and as many popular songs as we can think of. If we do not know any, this may be a good time to acquire a good book or a CD to learn them all together. And also, take advantage of Christmas to take your children to the different musical activities that are organized.
The whole year is a good time to promote the solidarity of our children but perhaps these dates are especially indicated for it. During Christmas both the parishes and the voluntary associations are involved in the preparation of campaigns to collect toys. Now that the children will receive new gifts, it may be a good time for them to let go of some of their own (and not just the older ones) in favor of the needy. In addition, we can take the opportunity to talk with the children about the situation in which some families live and about how fortunate they should feel for what they have.
Reading, TV and Internet, also at Christmas
There are numerous books with beautiful stories that make reference to Christmas. Let's pick a few (Dickens' "Christmas Tale," for example) and organize reading sessions aloud at home. Between nougat and nougat children will love to hear us tell the adventures and misadventures of the miser Mr. Scrooge.
Also in this same line we can resort to some old video tapes to entertain the little ones. To them to see again "How beautiful it is to live!" or "Christmas Classics of today and forever" (Frank Capra) will entertain you as much or more than any other plan that we can propose.
And to end the day what better to write the letter to the wise men. Either in its more traditional form or through the Internet (www.reyesmagos.com, for example) this can be a good opportunity to spend a pleasant afternoon with the family.
Out of home! It's Christmas
One of the most deeply rooted customs in our tradition is to ask for the "aguinaldo". The days indicated for these departures are usually on December 24, 25, and 31, as well as on January 1, 5 and 6. We can take this year to go out with our children and sing all those songs that we will have prepared together as a family.
And for fans of the theater and performances, nothing better than attending the assembly of a "living nativity scene". There are numerous locations that organize this type of activity that will allow us to transmit to our children some of our knowledge about the origin of Christmas, Births ...
It is also a good time to practice winter activities such as ice skating, skiing or sledding.
On the other hand, usually during these dates multiple fairs and Christmas parties are organized, which we can attend with our children. There are exposed all kinds of Christmas elements, crafts, jams ... this can be a good opportunity for children to get involved a little more in Christmas.
Storytelling and children's workshops, more at Christmas
In most of the cultural centers and toy libraries in our area will organize during this time storytellers and workshops especially focused on the Christmas holidays. Let's take advantage of this option so that our children get in contact with other children of their age while enjoying the wonderful world of stories, puppets or crafts.
And finally, nothing better than to end the holidays by going to any of the horseback riding that are organized in the cities of our country. Despite the cold and the inclement weather, there is no doubt that our children will appreciate being able to greet close to the Magi.
This outlet can also be used to buy the sweets that we will leave at night at the foot of our shoes. If we want good gifts, in addition to having behaved well, we will have to try to feed the camels and their majesties the Magi as best they can.
Tips for preparing plans with Christmas children
- Prepare in advance all the activities we plan to do at Christmas. A weekend before, for example, we can organize a small calendar with our children that we can modify on the fly.
- Get closer to your nearest cultural center and find out about the activities planned for Christmas. In this way, we can take advantage of the theater or the children's cinema sessions so that our children participate actively in them.
- Organize homemade activities depending on the age of your children. The little ones can draw and color. Those who are a little older can help us to paste the glitter, to decorate the windows with snow ...
- Christmas markets and fairs. Avoid being dragged by consumerism. To avoid this we can propose a small plan: when we are there, each one will be able to choose one thing, and only one, to take home. ...
- Movie evening. In case of going to the cinema to see some Christmas movie we can take the opportunity to comment all together and in advance the content of it. After having seen her we will analyze her message and what we have learned.
IRene Gutierrez
Advice: Lucía Herrero. Psychologist and family counselor
